How long has it been since you have check your child's social media accounts? No, not just Facebook or Instagram but ALL of their social media accounts. Do these accounts portray your child in a positive light or do they highlight your kids more questionable activities? In a recent survey by Kaplan Test Prep, 40% of admissions officers said they routinely check applicants' social media accounts. They are looking to find out more information about the applicants' interests, awards, creativity, and illicit or questionable behavior. This isn't a practice for admissions, coaches and athletic scholarship committees also take a student's social media into account. In a recent article by ESPN, the author includes a picture posted by a coach at SMU showing the length his team goes to to review what recruits are posting to social media. The article also shows how a coach at Auburn University dropped a prospective recruit because of his social media presence. It is heartbreaking that a student can have the skill, ability, and drive to make it on a team at a DI or DII school or earn an acceptance to a great college or receive a scholarship but because of their lack of discretion on their social media accounts, they lose out on those amazing opportunities.

If social media is so important, then how can students use it for their benefit? Cleveland.com published an article detailing how student athletes can use social media to their advantage. The article says students should connect, communicate, commit, and promote with their social media accounts. Although these ideas are for athletes, all students could use these methods to mold a positive public persona. Most, if not all, colleges and many admissions offices specially, have social media accounts. After visiting a college or meeting with an admissions office, student could mention the school or admissions office online along with a complimentary message. Talk about what they enjoyed on campus or what programs offered at the college that they would be interested in taking part in. Students can also use social media to talk directly to the admissions office. For some colleges, students could get into contact with the admissions office faster via social media than if they called the office's main number. Once a student has chosen a college to attend (ideally after they received not only their acceptance letter but also their financial aid letter), they could mention the college in a post, using a picture of themselves in the college's t-shirt, with a pennant, or the college mascot. Most importantly, students really need to take an objective look at ALL of their social media accounts to see what an admissions committee, scholarship committee, or coach would think of them if they saw all of these accounts. They should also take into account what their friends are posting about them, including mentions in their posts and pictures posted. Most social media apps have a feature to turn off tagging or require that the person who is tagged in a post or picture approve of the post before it is posted. Riley College Advising has helped many students modify their social media accounts to portray a more professional online presence and highlight their achievements, creativity, and great personalities.